Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are obtained by transplanting fragments of a patient's tumour into immunodeficient mice. Growth and propagation of PDXs allows correlating therapeutic response in vivo with extensive, multi-dimensional molecular annotation, leading to identification of predictive biomarkers. PDXs are increasingly recognised as clinically relevant models of cancer for several reasons, of which the main is the possibility of studying the behaviour of cancer cells in a natural microenvironment, where they interact with stromal components accrued from the mouse host. PDXs maintain close similarities with the tumour of origin, in terms of tissue architecture, molecular features and response to treatments. Indeed, preclinical trials in PDXs have been shown to match and also anticipate data obtained in patients. Exploration of more complex processes like metastatic evolution and antitumour immune responses is actively pursued with PDXs, as new generations of host models emerge on the horizon.

中文翻译：

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患者来源的异种移植物（PDX）作为人类癌症的模型系统。

通过将患者肿瘤的片段移植到免疫缺陷小鼠中来获得患者源异种移植物（PDX）。PDX的生长和繁殖使体内的治疗反应与广泛的多维分子注释相关联，从而鉴定了预测性生物标志物。由于多种原因，PDX被越来越多地视为癌症的临床相关模型，其中主要是研究在自然微环境中癌细胞与小鼠宿主的基质成分相互作用的行为的可能性。在组织结构，分子特征和对治疗的反应方面，PDX与原发肿瘤保持密切相似性。确实，PDX中的临床前试验已被证明与患者相匹配，并且可以预期获得的数据。